Anyone who has had children will remember the early days in their lives when the cumulative impact of their crying drove parents to distraction. Most parents wished they could simply use ear plugs to get a little peace and quiet, but were prevented from doing so by their image of themselves as good parents.
The level of annoyance caused by the sound increases is in direct relationship to the background sound environment. For example, a level of 30 dB over the background environment noise level will ordinarily be experienced as annoying.
Anyone who has heard a baby or a small child scream, cry or shriek would agree that this sound is annoying. Typically, this sound exceeds 30 dB over background, and is of a pitch and tone to be truly annoying. Such irritation can cause fatigue, nervousness and hypertension, and adds to the overall stress that the parent feels anyway. Efficiency is reduced, balance is upset, and blood vessels constrict.
Additionally, people who have used ear plugs sometimes worry that they may insert the ear plugs too far into the ear and possibly damage the ear, or that they may not be able to retrieve the ear plugs once they are in place.
These two facts dove tail into the creation of the instant invention.